Truth of the Lies
by orangeyhairedimmortal
Summary: Tatsuki goes to visit a friend and finds out that Ichigo didn't die by getting hit by a car like everyone said. Will she believe the truth when it's told to her by a crazy and unstable Orihime? Can Orihime keep up with the pain? What really happened to Ichigo? non-yuri, oneshot, dead!Ichigo


Tatsuki walked into the facility, flowers in the vase in her hands. She had to choose them carefully, for they couldn't be blue nor could they look like a daisy. She wasn't sure why it was like that but after the mistake that caused this to happen, she never ever did it again. She walked up to the counter and looked in the receptionist window. The receptionist, Midiki, smiled nicely to Tatsuki and waved.

"Coming to see her again?"

"Yeah, I feel that I haven't come by as much. How is she?" she asked.

Midiki smiled sadly. "She had another relapse. She was doing so well but someone came in with dyed hair and she went into a relapse… it was not very pleasant and things got a little ugly." She sighed. "She's such a sweet girl to have to go through such a hard time."

Tatsuki nodded as Midiki pressed a button and something released on the door.

"You know the way there. Just let the guard know you want to visit and he'll open the door for you."

"Thanks, Midiki."

She smiled another sad smile as Tatsuki opened the door and headed down the long corridor. She remembered when they first brought her in how horrified she was at her room number. She held onto the walls for dear life and didn't want to go in; but when she didn't go out and didn't see the number at all, she was alright. Tatsuki sighed, hating what became of her, and stopped in front of the room.

Room 15.

The guard at the door looked at her and smiled. It was just Chatsu, the one who usually guarded the door.

"Hey, Chatsu. I'm coming to visit."

He nodded. "Haven't seen you in a while, Ms. Tatsuki. How have you been?"

"I've been alright. I have been practicing for the karate matches and school has been hectic. Is she alright to see?"

"She is good today."

He turned around and unlocked the door and Tatsuki went in.

* * *

Tatsuki looked around the small room and set the vase on the little table that was just inside the door. Most of the time she was looking out the window as if she were waiting for something and sometimes she looked like she was just staring into space as she sat on the floor, looking at nothing.

Today was different though. She seemed frantic, going about the room and moving things around, going through different things as if she were searching for something. Her hair had been cut short and as she passed by Tatsuki, she stopped and looked at her.

"Tatsuki." She said as if remembering a long forgotten dream.

"Hello, Orihime. What are you looking for?"

"My clips!" she said, pointing to where her six petaled light blue flower clips used to be in her hair. "I have to have them."

"Why?"

"To save him! I have to save him and I can't do anything without the clips. Have you seen them?"

"Orihime, you gave them to me for safe keeping. They aren't here." Tatsuki said, walking up to her. "Orihime, you need to calm down a little."

Orihime stopped and turned to her with an almost dangerous look.

"Tatsuki, how could you say that? How can I just _stop_ when I have a responsibility to make sure he is safe? He protects me all the time and now it's my turn."

Tatsuki sighed and grabbed Orhime's shoulders.

"Orihime, Ichigo is gone… You can't change anything…"

Orihime gasped and slapped Tatsuki's hands away, looking at her as if she had just been slapped in the face.

"Don't say that name! DON'T SAY THAT NAME!"

Orihime suddenly crumbled to the floor, putting her hands in her hair and rocking back and forth, whimpering and muttering.

"Ichigo, help me… Help me… I'm sorry, I'm so sorry… I killed you… I killed you… ICHIGO! ICHIGO! ICHIGO!"

The door opened and Chatsu came in.

"What's going on?"

"I can handle it, Chatsu. If I need your help I will call for you. Don't give her that just yet."

Chatsu looked skeptical but he trusted Tatsuki knew what to do for her friend and nodded, walking out of the room slowly.

Tatsuki walked over to her friend and wrapped her arms around her, pulling her close.

"Orihime, it's okay. It wasn't your fault that he's gone. No one blames you for anything."

Tatsuki pet her friend head, trying to understand why Orihime thought it was her fault that Ichigo had died when they had found his body on the street where a car had most likely hit him. She knew it was a lot like how her brother died but that was the only correlation that Tatsuki could get out of everything.

"Why do you think it's your fault that he died? He got hit by a car-"

"No." Orihime said firmly. Tatsuki pulled away as Orihime's head rose. "No, he did _not_ get hit by a car. There is so much more."

"Then tell me."

"You wouldn't believe me… _No one_ believes me."

"I'll believe you, Orihime. Just tell me what happened."

Orihime sniffled but stood up and walked to the window, looking out of it.

"There are people who guard this town called Soul Reapers. They cannot be seen by normal people but if someone has enough spiritual pressure, they can sense them or even see them. All of his friends –Renji, Rukia, Rangiku, Hitsugaya- they were all Soul Reapers. They have fake bodies that they use so humans can see them. But they are warriors… they are fighters… He was a Substitute Soul Reaper and was able to travel to the Soul Society –where they live- and help them out."

"What do they do?"

"While here, they make ghosts go to their final resting places but in the Soul Society, they are fighting and battling creatures that you couldn't even imagine. Powerful beings made by a cruel and powerful Soul Reaper named Aizen. He is the enemy of the Soul Society."

"Okay, so he was one of these things… But you said you can't see these Soul Reaper things but we saw him everyday at school."

"There are these things that take control of their fake bodies if they have to go kill monsters called Hollows. They pop this pill in their mouth, burst out of their body, and leave unseen to regular people."

"Oh… is that why sometimes I swore I saw him running outside of the school?"

Orhime nodded. "You have a little spiritual pressure so sometimes you saw him, if you believed he was there."

"What does this all have to do about his death?"

Orihime touched the glass of the window and watched a bird fly from the branch.

"Aizen made these things that were called Espada and they were very powerful. One of them stole me and told me I was important to Aizen's cause. I could say goodbye to only one person and I chose him… He realized that I was gone and he came to rescue me with Renji, Ishida, Chad, and Rukia. The Espada lived in a place called Hueco Mundo, where I was kept, and he fought his way to save me to bring me back home. Lots of things happened but it all went horribly wrong when Ulquirra, a black haired Espada with hardly any emotion, challenged him. They flew to another part of Hueco Mundo and fought.

"I asked Ishida to take me there so that I could watch Ichigo and be there in case something happened."

"Wait, what do you mean? What could you do?"

Orihime turned back to her friend and smiled sadly, the crazy in her eyes still there though. Tatsuki noticed that Orihime had slowly been calling Ichigo by his name again.

"My clips can turn into things. I can heal people, shield people, shoot things, other things. I even brought Ichigo back from the dead… But I didn't get to that time… Ichigo is different from other Soul Reapers because he has great power and more. He can even have the powers of a Hollow, which makes him stronger. He was using all he had when things got… well, I guess annoying for Ulquirra. He grabbed Ichigo by the neck with his tail and shot a cero straight through his heart. Ichigo was dead… still dead… He lay limp at my feet and I couldn't do anything. I just screamed at him in horror and pain…"

"But how did you contribute to his death?"

"Because if I hadn't agreed to go with Ulquirra initially, he would have killed everyone, even you… I had to because I wanted to protect everyone for whatever he was going to do. I did it so I could prove myself as useful in my group beside's healing… Because I went with Ulquirra, he died…"

"Well, it looks more like this Ulquirra guy is the one who killed him in cold blood."

Orihime looked into the sky.

"I wish he could have died better. I should have been able to heal him… He should be living… _I_ killed Ichigo in Hueco Mundo… I killed him…"

Tatsuki sighed and she walked over to Orihime, hugging her hard.

"You did nothing in that place. That Ulquirra guy killed him, not you."

"All I did was scream… just scream…"

Orihime couldn't suddenly see the fight in her head again and she gasped, pushing away from the window. But it was too late, her memories were coming back to her. She slink to the floor and began to cry hard.

"Ichigo, help Me! Ichigo, please help me!"

Tatsuki sighed and kissed her on the cheek. The whole thing sounded preposterous but it kind of made sense. She left Orihime after a while and went home.

* * *

Orihime sat in the middle of her room and stared at the ceiling, no clothes on and air on. She looked up and smiled the first smile she smiled in years. She laughed bitterly, tears trailing down her cheeks as she pulled out her clips where Tatsuki had given them back to her. She knew what she had to do… she couldn't stay this way. She couldn't live life like this anymore.

"I love you Ichigo. I love you so much… Koten Zanshun, I reject." She said, Tsubaki coming out of the clips.


End file.
